The Little Maid
by colours of the heart
Summary: Rukia is an ordinary girl looking for a job. She finally found a well paying job but is it such a good idea being a maid for Japan's top idol band The Shinigamis? It's a risk she's willing to take but lead singer Ichigo is not so happy about it.
1. Meet the boys

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach**

**A/N: Hey everyone! Hotaru here. This is my first fanfic and I hope you like it!**

**Chapter 1-Meet the boys**

_Gotei Entertainment. The most famous entertainment company recorded in music history. Gotei Entertainment is well known for their young, popular idol groups and bands. However recently their most popular group has been attracting more attention of the viewers. Even preschoolers know these rising stars name. Japan's top band, the Shinigamis..._

"Kya!!!! Ichigo we love you!!!!"

"Renji I'm your biggest fan!!!"

"Toushiro I'm your future wife!!!"

"Hisagi you're so hot!!"

"Kira you're the bomb!!!"

The Shinigamis were up to their final song of their concert. The fans were going wild. Well why wouldn't they be. It's _The _Shinigamis. The first band to stay number 1 on Japan's top ten list for the past six months. They are the first male Japanese band to hold concerts in 13 different countries, each of them have starred in a movie or musicals and they have won the hearts of over two million fan girls just only a year after their debut.

The song was almost finished. All the band members were sweating hard but they were having a great time. The fans were all jumping up and down to the beat of the music. Finally the song had finished and the audience gave a wild cheer.

"Thank You very much for coming tonight!" shouted Ichigo the lead vocalist. Even after three hours of singing he still had enough left to shout to two million fan girls that come to his band's final concert of the year.

"We hope you had a great night! See you next time!" and at last the concert ended.

The band members came off stage one by one. Paparazzi and reporters were everywhere, taking photos, yelling questions over the screaming fans behind them.

Even news reporters were there waiting for them.

But the Shinigamis just smiled and walked to their dressing room casually. They were used to this by now.

_News Report_

_Japan's top stars The Shinigamis have ended their last concert for the year._

_Their debut was only a year ago but they already have a fanclub with over two million members._

_This popular group consisting of five members is Gotei Entertainment's most successful project. The members are:_

_Kurosaki Ichigo as main vocalist and guitarist._

_Abarai Renji as lead guitarist._

_Hitsugaya Toshirou as bass_

_Hisagi Shuuhei on the drums_

_and Kira Izuru on the keyboard._

_These young boys have already made it to the top 5 charts kicking off Beyonce. This is a new record for a new, young band like the Shinigamis. We can only expect more from them the next time we see them._

_This is Yamanaka Megumi from Sakura News. Back to you Ken._

"That was awesome. Probably our best concert yet" said Hisagi lying down on the couch in their dressing room.

"Yes I would have to agree on that. This was the concert with the most audience" said Urahara Kisuke, their manager.

"Yeah but it could have been better if Renji hadn't played that wrong note in the last song" muttered Ichigo as he sat down in front of the mirror removing the makeup he was wearing"

"It was only one note and besides no one heard it" said Renji as he gave a cold look to Ichigo. "I heard it" retorted Ichigo

"Do you two always have to fight?" sighed Shihoin Yoruichi, their stylist. She has seen those two fight a number of times but now she was starting to get sick of it.

"We're not fighting. I'm just pointing out Renji's flaws" said Ichigo. He leaned over to Kira "This may take a while" he whispered.

"Hey! I heard that. Everyone has flaws-"

"But you just have alot" said Ichigo, interrupting Renji.

"Hmph. Like you did any better. You're voice went or squeaky and high like girl during the last few songs" said Renji

"What did you just call me?!" growled Ichigo, staring straight at Renji

Renji smirked "Aw~ Did I hurt your little feelings?"

"Why you little!!" shouted Ichigo as he clenched his fist ready for an attack.

Sigh "I'm outta here" said Toshirou who went out of the room.

"Don't they get tired of fighting?" sighed Kira as well who had already changed out of his stage clothes. "I'll be waiting in the car" he said as he followed Toshirou out of the room.

_The next day. It was lunch time and the Shinigamis were finally getting up after a long night. They had a party in their dorm to celebrate their great performance._

"Ugh...My head.." groaned Ichigo as he made his way to the kitchen. He didn't get very far before tripping over rubbish from the previous night and other junk from who knows when.

"Gah!!! What the hell?! Hisagi! Take your stupid cds into your damn room!" He shouted.

"I'll get them later" A weary voice replied from inside Hisagi's room. They were such a popular band that they got a huge dorm with a room each, a huge kitchen (_Which they didn't know how to use_), two bathrooms, a huge lounge and even a practice room! But know matter how big it was, every single corner had rubbish and mess in it-well they're guys. What do you expect? From the bathroom to the kitchen, every single spot on the floor was taken by some kind of unidentified object(s). Well except for Toshirou's room. That was the only sanctuary in the whole dorm.

Ichigo stood up and looked around the whole place: Last night's chip packets, bottles of beer, sake and coke, chinese food packets, takeaway boxes, Hisagi's cds, clothes etc.

"Is that my sock?" he muttered to himself as he carefully made his way to the kitchen and got himself some water.

The band was scheduled to appear on a talk show at 4pm so their manager and stylist came over to make sure they were ready.

"You guys are one dirty group" said Yoruichi, not daring to take away her finger that was pinching her nose.

"Before we leave I want you guys to have a big cleanup. We've still got plenty of time before we have to leave for the show" said Urahara scanning the room.

"I am not cleaning up their mess" grumbled Toshirou looking down at the filthy surface that was once known as the floor.

"Why don't we just call a maid or something? That would be way easier" said Renji. The thought of cleaning took all the energy out of him.

Urahara sighed. "You guys are too spoilt...Fine I'll get a maid for you" he said in defeat. "I feel sorry for any person who has to clean up this mess" he muttered as he stepped over what it looked like a sock. He _hoped_ it was a sock.

**A/N: Yay! End of Chapter 1. Please review!**

-Hotaru n.n


	2. Meet the girls

**A/N: Hey everyone. Thank you so much for people who reviewed my first chapter! 11 reviews is a pretty good start don't you think? Anyway I hope you enjoy this chapter too! **

**Also! Check out Zakura's fanfic: Long Lost Kuchiki. Zakura is my friend who I'm sharing this account with! Her story is ssssooooo awesome! She's a really good writer! You'll find her story on our profile! Read it! It's the best Bleach and D. Gray Man crossover I've ever read!**

**Chapter 2-Meet the girls  
**

_Ding Ding Ding Ding_

The school bell could be heard from a distance.

"Ah!!! I'm late! I'm late! I'm late! Again!!!" wailed a young girl as she raced off to school as her life depended on it.

She ran up the stairs, past the music room, past the toilets and slid open the classroom door and plopped down on her seat.

"Phew~ I made it" she said taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

"Let me guess Rukia. You were up all night again?" asked her best friend Orihime. Well it was more of a statement. "What was it this time? Dry Cleaning? Working at the pizza shop? Cleaning the hair salon? Or is it that new pet washing job you took on last week?"

"It's called A Dog's Day Off! Besides it wasn't that. I just overslept a little..." said Rukia. At this moment her other best friend Rangiku came bursting into class-as usual. "Geez Rukia! You need to sleep more! I bet you slept at like 4am this morning! Why are you working so much anyway? Aren't you a Kuchiki? Don't the Kuchiki own the most famous clothing brand in all of Japan?" asked Rangiku.

Rukia sighed. "I told you already. I don't want to be even more of a burden to nii-sama. I'm grateful that he adopted me into the family but I couldn't let him pay for my tuition and everything..."

"Of course you could! What's wrong with that? I mean you are family now right? Family should be looking out for each other! And how can you stand working all day? I would've gone mad by now" said Rangiku. Orihime nodded in agreement.

"Well working is…uh…fun for me and besides, at least I make use of my time instead of going to a concert like _you_ guys! Seriously. What's so good about the Shinigamis anyway?"

"Shock horror!" said Rangiku and Orihime in unison. They were both major fans of the Shinigamis and they couldn't believe their ears when the sentence came out of their dear friend's mouth.

"How could you say that Rukia!" said Orihime still in shock "The Shinigamis is the best group in the history of music! They're freakishly good singers-"

"AND they're super hot!" interrupted Rangiku. "How can you _not_ like them!"

Rukia sighed, again. "You guys are just too obsessive of them. They're just a bunch of idiots who think they're so good looking when they're not. I bet their singing isn't real. I bet someone is singing from behind stage. I bet all of them are fake"

Rangiku and Orihime were close to fainting. How could their dear friend Rukia say something like that?! Well they've known her since elementary school so they really didn't expect her to like them, but still.

"So anyway. How was the concert?" asked Rukia to calm them down a bit. It certainly brought them out of the shocked mode but it just made them even more hyper.

"It was so so so so so so so so so so awesome!" screamed Orihime. "Oh my gosh did you see Ichigo's hair? It was so cool! He looked so hot!!!" then the two hyper girls began their conversation about the concert and how hot everyone looked.

Rukia ignored the two girls and thought about her money crisis.

Although she was now a Kuchiki she decided to live alone and pay for her own tuition and everything. She really didn't want to be a burden to her brother. However the condition was that an allowance of $1000 is sent to her every month.

"He already sends me an allowance each month" she muttered to herself "That's enough for me.." but honestly it wasn't. Rukia had at least ten different part time jobs and she still wasn't getting enough money to pay for her tuition, her rent, clothes, food and other things like birthday gifts. She really needed to get a better job that pays well. At that moment the teacher came in and class started.

After school Rukia was going back home calculating the amount of money she earned this month. To save every penny she had she couldn't even take the bus home. "Sigh...Only $700 this month...I still have some money left over from my allowance. But I've got so many things to pay! Argh! This is not good.." She plopped down on a nearby bench.

"Now my rent is $450, I need to go shopping in a few days..um..electricity bills, water bills, school fees, Orihime's birthday is coming up...then that means..." she began to calculate her money only to come to a devastating result.

"Gah! -$250..I'm already going into debt" she hung her head as if in shame. "I really need to find a better paying job and quick!"

And as if her prayer was answered, a sheet of paper came from nowhere and landed at her feet.

"Huh? What's this?" Rukia picked up the mysterious piece of paper and examined it. It was an advertisement for a maid.

_"Maid Wanted"_

_We are looking for a maid who can clean, wash and possibly cook._

_If you think you are qualified for the job please come to the address below._

_Also we are offering..."_

"$1000?!" screamed Rukia as she stood up from her spot on the bench

"Per week?!?!" Without any second thoughts she quickly rushed to the stated address. _'With this I'll be able to pay all of my expenses _and_ have money left over to buy thicker blankets!'_ It was getting colder now as it reaches October and all Rukia had for a bed was a small futon she bought with her paycheck from her other part time job "A Dog's Day Off".

Rukia finally reached her destination, huffing and puffing. "Gotei *_pant* _Entertainment?" She checked that the address was correct before she headed into the building. "Um excuse me" She said to the woman at the information desk. "I'm here to apply for the maid job" The woman looked at her weirdly.

"Maid? I'm sorry. There are no jobs like th-"

"Ah yes!" said a voice behind her. A man dressed in green, wearing clogs and a green and white stripy hat and holding a fan was standing behind her.

"You're here for the maid job? Yes come this way!" He directed her to the elevator and she followed. She looked at the man doubtingly. _Does this man actually work here? He sure doesn't look like it. He looks more like a hobo from the street._

"Just to clear everything, I am not a homeless person and I actually do work here. I'm Urahara Kisuke and I'm the manager of the Shinigamis" he said holding out his hand. _Ah! Did he just read my mind? This man is really weird..._

"I'm Kuchiki Rukia" she said as she shook Urahara's hand.

They reached their floor, floor 12 and got off the lift.

"So do I need to pass a test or anything?" she asked. Since she was going to be a maid for the most famous entertainment company in Japan she was expecting some difficult test.

Urahara thought for a moment then spoke.

"Can you clean?"

"Yes", answered Rukia.

"Can you wash clothes?"

"Yes"

"Can you cook?"

"Yes"

"Do you know who the Shinigamis are?"

"Um… sort of…" she stuttered on her last question. She had to answer truthfully but she so badly wanted this job she wouldn't of mind pretending to be a fan of those losers.

"You pass!" said Urahara happily. _Huh? _Rukia was confused for a moment. She was expecting something more but she was happy that she qualified for the job.

"So when do I start?" Rukia asked.

"Today if you can" said Urahara "Their dorm needs cleaning a.s.a.p. It 's quite a mess" _Wait. Whose dorm?_

Urahara lead Rukia through a hallway and stopped in front of a door. There was a sign in red that said "Death Gods ONLY!" She was starting to get a bad feeling.

"Well here we are!" he said opening the door "This is the Shinigami's dorm"

Rukia stepped in but it was a bad idea. The horrible smell of rubbish and who knows what blasted at her and she was forced to move back a step. "What the?!"

"Yeah these boys are not the cleanest. I know it's not the easiest job but would you be able to clean this all up before they come back?" Rukia hesitantly nodded as she scanned the room. Rubbish, take-away boxes, coke bottles, beer cans, clothes etc. This is what you called a mega pigsty.

"Is that a sock?" Rukia asked pointing at an unidentified object.

"I hope so" chuckled Urahara "Well see you in 3 hours" and he left her standing in the giant mess of Ew…

Rukia looked around again. This was certainly going to take more than 3 hours. She sighed.

What has she gotten herself into…?

**A/N: End of Chapter 2. Please review!-Hey that rhymes!**

-Hotaru n.n


	3. Operation Clean Up!

A/N: Hey everyone. Here's the 3rd chapter! Oh and thank you for everyone who reviewed my previous chapters^^. Enjoy~

**Chapter 3-Operation Clean Up**

3 hours. It was definitely going to take more than that to clean _this_ up. Well it's best to make use of the time she got, she decided. She tied her hair into a short pony tail, rolled up her sleeves, clipped a clothes peg over her nose to stop any toxic gases from killing her and commenced Operation Clean Up.

"These boys are stupid _and_ pigs," she muttered to herself. Rukia picked up all the rubbish, including that sock-like thing and threw it all away. Now she could finally start to see the floor. There were CDs, clothes and other things that were on the floor too but since she didn't know whom they belonged to she just folded and stacked them in one corner. All the dishes in the sink were washed, the floor was vacuumed and the bathroom was now spotless.

She looked at the clock on the wall.

"One more hour" She looked around the dorm and a small smile came to her lips. She had done a pretty good job. The dorm was finally a liveable place.

"Phew" she said as she plopped down on the floor. "That was hard. Who knew a bunch of boys could be that dirty. Well…they're boys so I didn't expect much…"

All she had to do now was to wait for Urahara to come back with her pay check then she could get out of there but there was still another hour to go. Now what would a 15 year old girl do in the dorm of the most popular idol group of Japan? Explore their dorm? Take photos? Call their friends and tell them all about it?

Yawn~ "I think I'll go to sleep" said Rukia as she found a comfortable spot on the ground and closed her eyes. (Rukia is quite different from your average girl. She would rather sleep than dig through the bands' belongings)

Rukia's Dream

_It was raining. For the past week there has been nothing but showers. I looked outside the window, like I always did. And I waited. I waited day after day. I waited for the past 5 years._

"_Hisana-neechan" I breathed out as a sigh._

_When is she going to come back? When is she going to take me away from this place? I have been stuck in this orphanage for 5 years – 5 horrible years. I remembered my sister's words, her final words before she left me here. 'I'll be back for you soon. I promise. So wait for me'_

_So that's what I was doing. Waiting. When exactly was soon? Every once in a while we would have couples wanting to adopt a child. I would always wait for the doorbell to ring and rush down to the front door to greet the person I was waiting for. If Hisana-neechan weren't standing in front of the doorstep, I would close it not caring about the person standing there. When adopters came to see me I would run away, throw pranks at them or scream – anything to prevent them from taking me away. I got scolded a lot for this. People didn't want kids like me who got into trouble. People didn't want to raise a troublesome child like me. So it was always another child who got adopted and moved out to live with their new family. But I didn't mind. I didn't want to leave this place. Hisana-neechan was coming to get me. I just needed to wait a little, a little bit more._

_On this particular day it was raining too. I was standing in front of the big window the girl's dormitory as usual. Waiting patiently._

_The doorbell rang. I hurried down stairs, my heart pounding against my rib cage. 'Is it her? Has she come back?' A small smile formed on my face however it soon faded away as I opened the door. A tall man with middle length black hair was standing on the front doorstep. He was wearing a black suit and everything about him seemed gloomy. He didn't have an umbrella. 'It's not her'. I was going to shut the door on him when he suddenly spoke._

"_Rukia…"_

_I froze. How did he know my name? I turned to look at him again. This time I looked up to his face. He was completely drenched in rain now, from head to toe, which made it seem like he was crying. It was hard to tell under the rain._

_I didn't say anything. I was too scared to. Who was this man? How did he know my name?_

"_Rukia…" He began "Hisana…is dead"_

_It hit me like a car on the highway. I froze on the spot. My brain had ceased contact with all my limbs. I plopped down on the spot that I had been standing on. Hisana-neechan…is dead? A teardrop fell down my cheek, then another, then another followed by another. Then they all fell at once. It was like rain, how it slowly dropped, one by one then how it all poured out at once. I was crying. The sky was too._

_On that fateful day it was raining._

_On that fateful day I met nii-sama._

_On that fateful day I cried._

_On that fateful day I found out the person I have been waiting for years wasn't coming back._

_On that fateful day I found out my sister died…_

End of Dream

Rukia was still lying on the floor when she woke up from her dream. A teardrop slid down her face but she didn't bothered to wipe it. She looked at the time.

"About ten more minutes" she said to herself.

She didn't want to go back to sleep in case she had that dream again. She decided to explore the place a bit (Now she was finally doing what a normal teenager would do in her situation). Now that it was clean she could actually see the contents in each room.

As she walked around the place she noticed that some of the door handles were loose, the wall paint was peeling off and mould was growing in some of the corners. She scowled at the sight. "They're ungrateful idiots too" she muttered as she added another reason why she didn't like them.

Rukia was jealous of the Shinigami's dorm. It was one of the best dorms she has ever seen – with the high quality facilities and all – but these boys didn't treat it well and expected someone else to clean up their mess. _Talk about ungrateful._

Rukia entered their practice room and walked over to their CDs. There many stacks of them but Rukia couldn't recognise much as she didn't know that many singers considering that she has only been working her entire life. There was still a little bit of time before the Urahara and the boys came back so she decided to listen to some music. She ran down the 1st stack of CDs and one particular one seemed to have caught her eye.

"As Time Ticks By" she muttered the name of the album as she inserted the CD into the CD player. The first song playing was called "I'm Coming".

_I wonder if you still remember me._

_I wonder if you'll still recognise me._

_I wonder if I can see you_

_One last time before I descend._

_Everyday I think of you._

_Do you think of me too?_

_Sometimes I wonder_

_If it was such a good idea_

_To leave you alone_

_It pains me to dream of you_

_Crying by yourself_

_With no protection_

_I should be there to_

_Tell you it's all right_

_But I know I can't_

_You know I can't_

_But just wait little one because…_

_I'm coming, coming._

_Just wait a little longer._

_I'll be there to get you soon_

'_Cause I'm coming, coming._

_To wipe your tears away._

_To be together with you once more._

_I'm coming now._

A small teardrop fell down Rukia's cheek. Why? That, she didn't know but for some reason she could sympathise with the artist of the song. She wiped the teardrop off her face. This song was officially her favourite song.

As she packed the CD away into it's original place, she noticed a white object in the corner. She picked it up with the tips of her thumb and index finger.

"I must have missed this while cleaning" she said as she stared at the underwear.

Suddenly the door opened and when Rukia turned around she faced a tall boy with bright orange hair along with some other shocked looking guys.

"Urahara" started the orange haired boy who currently seemed pissed and shocked at the same time. "Why is there are girl in our dorm holding my underwear?"

This became a very awkward situation.

A/N: Yay chapter 3 is finished! I hoped you liked it^^. Ah~ This was my first attempt to write a song. Please give me some feedback – especially about my song – I want to know how I did! Hm.. Although this wasn't my best chapter I hope you still liked it^^.

-Hotaru n.n


	4. Wow

**A/N: Hey everyone. SORRY for not updating in a while. I went on holiday for a few days and I had other stuff on so… Anyway~ Here's Chapter 4! Enjoy~**

**Chapter 4-Wow**

"Urahara-san" started the orange haired boy. "Why is there a girl in our dorm holding my underwear"

"Ah Kuchiki-san! Are you all done with the cleaning?" asked Urahara, ignoring Ichigo. Rukia nodded as she put Ichigo's underwear in the washing machine. Ichigo stared at her the whole way then realised…

"Cleaning? When did we hire a maid?"

"I did. You boys were the ones that said you didn't want to clean your pigsty so I hired Kuchiki-san as a maid and I've got to say, she's done a pretty good job" said Urahara looking around the room. Everyone else followed Urahara's action, gazing at their dorm that is now out of the danger zone.

"Oh my god! I can see the floor! I swear our carpet colour was green…" said Renji feeling the softness of the clean, _white_ carpet.

"Hey! I can see out of the window! I didn't know that you could see the park from here! This is awesome!" shouted Hisagi.

"Hm… No cobwebs… Good…" said Hitsugaya, a small(very small) smile formed on his face. He wasn't one to show his emotions but this was an exception.

All of the members looked around to discover new objects and facilities of their dorm they didn't even know about. Everyone was very impressed with what Rukia had done to their dorm.

"Hey!" suddenly Ichigo exclaimed. "What happened to my lucky sock?"

_Ah… So it _was_ a sock!_

"Oh I chucked it out with all the other junk on the floor. It didn't really seem wearable." Said Rukia.

Ichigo gave her a frown. "Well it looked wearable to me. You didn't have to throw out a perfectly good sock"

Rukia sighed. _Well I'm not sure if you're blind or not but-_

"There was mold growing off it, there were 3 holes and I'm pretty sure that cockroach was NOT supposed to be living in there"

As Rukia made her point everyone shuddered. _Infested sock…_

"Well anyway!" smiled Urahara, completely ignoring that moment of silence. "Here's your paycheck Kuchiki-san. We're expecting you back in a few days. Well maybe even tomorrow! – Depending on how long this room stays uncontaminated". On that note Rukia took her money and left the Shinigamis' dorm and headed back home.

The boys resumed awing at the incredible work the young girl has done. No speck of dust could be found on the table, you could see a mile out the window and no other living creatures (more commonly known as bugs) could be found hiding behind the fridge or under the couch.

"Wow! I can't believe that little girl cleaned the whole dorm in a few hours! I didn't think that was possible!" exclaimed Renji as he jumped onto the couch. "I think it was a good idea hiring her. Don't you think?" he asked the rest of the members.

"Yeah. I mean who knew we had white carpet. I was pretty sure we had red!" said Hisagi feeling the softness of the _white_ carpet brush under his feet.

"I thought it was green!" said Renji. Neither of them knew what had caused the multicolouring of their floor and neither of them wanted to find out. The causes could range from food stains to mould – To think they were stepping on mould the whole time… Right now they were happy that their floor was clean and safe to step on.

"Hey where is Ichigo and Hitsugaya-kun?" asked Kira looking around in search for his other two bandmates.

"Dunno" said Renji as he turned on the tv. _Yay Bleach is on!_

"Ichigo is probably in the music room listening to music as always and I think I saw Toshirou going into his room before" said Hisagi as he watched the fight between the death gods and the hollows – as if those things could actually exist.

"Stop calling me that! It's Hitsugaya!" shouted a voice from inside Hitsugaya's room.

"Yup he's in there"

In the Music Room

Ichigo entered the music room and inspected it. The maid girl had done a pretty good job. The music room was the room Ichigo spent most of his time in – even more than his bedroom – and he was happy to see it so clean.

Ichigo walked over to the CD rack to pick out an album but stopped in his tracks. The CD he was reaching for was placed backwards. Someone had been touching his stuff. He looked around for anything else that was placed wrong – it was just that CD.

Maybe he placed it the wrong way when he put it back last time he listened to it, which was this morning. Ichigo pushed the idea out of his head and took the CD and inserted it into the CD player.

Something was wrong – again.

"I swear I stopped at track 5 this morning" muttered Ichigo, then how come the CD was playing from the end of track 1? Someone had definitely gone through his stuff. However Ichigo just shrugged the thought off, thinking it was Urahara or Renji messing with him again and making a note to punch them later.

As track 2 started Ichigo sat down in the Lazy-Boy chair and closed his eyes. Song 2: Christmas Wish

_Everyday was just the same._

_Sitting there watching,_

_Watching as life went by._

_How did I get here?_

_How long has it been? _

_The weight of the snow._

_The weight of a burden._

_The distant past is fresh in my mind._

_What happened next was a miracle._

_Maybe even a dream._

_The touch of a warm hand._

_Like the heat of a fire._

_The sweet smell of protection._

_Like a home cooked meal._

_The sound of a burden taken off._

_Like unwrapping presents._

_It was just like a Christmas Wish._

The song faded into the background as Ichigo plunged into a dream of memories – memories from the worst to the best times of his life.

_It's cold._

_It's winter._

_What's this sliding down my face?_

_Is it rain?_

_No. It's snowing right now._

_Just like that day*_

_Snow then?_

_Ah… It's warm._

_* Sniff *_

_Tears._

_A boy shouldn't cry._

_That's what mum said._

_I should listen to her._

_I _should've _listened to her._

_* Sniff *_

_I hear a car whizzing by and the screech of the friction between the tires and the ground make me flinch._

_Why do people drive so fast?_

_They should slow down or there could be an accident._

_* Sniff *_

_There _was_ an accident._

_* Sniff *_

_I can still hear the tires screeching._

_I can still hear my mother shouting._

_I can still hear myself shouting._

_I can still hear the thump._

_I can still hear the sound of bones cracking._

_I can still hear the sound of the human head meeting the road._

_I can still hear her last sentence, her last 'I love you', her last breath._

_* Sniff *_

_It's all my fault_

_I feel something on my shoulder._

_It's a hand. A warm hand._

"_It's ok. It's not your fault"_

_Another hand comes along and wraps around me into an embrace._

_The tears flow even harder and I cry into her chest._

_-_

_-_

_She's there again – like always. I raced over to her._

"_Nee-chan! Nee-chan!" I shouted as I ran. She greeted me with a warm smile._

"_Hey Ichigo, how was school?" she asked_

_I smiled back. "It was awesome! We played soccer and I scored 3 goals!"_

"_Wow 3 goals! That's amazing Ichigo, especially for a eight-year old." She said as I received a pat on the back from her and my smile only grew wider._

_I could sit here forever talking to her. Nee-chan had saved me from depression after my mother died. She made me happy when I felt sad (cliché yes…very…) and she slowly helped me to get over my mother's death – she helped me face reality._

_Now it was my turn to help her._

"_So nee-chan, how is your latest song going? Have you finished it?" I asked._

_Nee-chan had a great voice and she was brilliant at writing songs too! I've listened to a few. Nee-chan is working on an album. She said that she urgently needs the money for her family. I'm not sure what that's all about but I'm going to help her achieve her goal anyway._

"_No Ichigo I haven't finished it yet but I've almost. This is gonna be the last song in the album" she said excitedly._

"_Then can you sing me what you've got so far? I wanna hear it!"_

_She smiled at me then nodded then she cleared her throat and begun._

"_It's gonna be alright._

_We're here for eachother._

_Nothing gonna separate us anymore._

_I missed you I say._

_You've missed me you say._

_What a wonderful dream."_

_I applauded as she finished._

"_That was just the chorus though"_

"_That was so cool! You have such an amazing voice!" I said as a clapped as if there was no tomorrow._

-

-

Ichigo's eye's slowly fluttered open. It was just a dream- a dream that had once been real. He got up and stretched and stopped playing the CD. As he was packing the CD away he noticed something beside the drum set – This time _he_ had noticed something.

He went closer and identified the 'something' as a girl's purse. He picked it up and saw the most ridiculous rabbit printed on it.

"What's this doing here?" he muttered.

---(^-^)---

Rukia stood beside the traffic light, waiting for it to turn green so that she can cross. She clutched the envelope, which had her money inside. On the outside she was calm and smiling – which was the complete opposite of what she was feeling right now. On the inside she was jumping up and down, screaming with joy. Now she can stop some of her other part time jobs as she has found another way to earn money – more money than before. Finally she can have more time for herself and friends and all her bills can be paid with money left over! Oh Yeah!

"I better keep this safe" she said to herself and reached down to put the envelope in her purse when her hand met air. Rukia looked down to see that the Chappy purse she always had around neck was not there.

"Shit" she muttered before she ran back to Gotei Entertainment.

*** I made this up. I'm pretty sure it didn't snow when Ichigo's mother died.**

**By the way if you didn't notice while reading Ichigo's poorly written flashback, I'll explain. He's just thinking of the day his mother died from a car crash and how he met his "saviour". Not telling who the saviour is though^^.**

**A/N: Woo! Chapter 4 done!**

**Please REVIEW! **

-Hotaru n.n


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